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expired, then at length perish Gog and Magog; whose seats, together with those of their associates, are, as we find from Ezekiel, within the limits of the three first empires. I am much inclined to think, that the season and the time, during which the lives of the three beasts were to be preserved, is only another mode of expressing the thousand years mentioned by St. John. As a day in the prophetic language is a year, so a great time or year of the Lord was thought by the Jews to comprehend a thousand years; and this great time they were wont to style the great day of judgment, shewing thereby that days, and years, and millenaries, are equal in the sight of God *. At any rate the time, during which the lives of the three beasts were to be preserved, undoubtedly coincides with the thousand years; whence we are naturally led to conclude, that Daniel did not mean an indefinite time, but a time or year of some description or another. It cannot however be a time of 360 years, because it coincides with the Millen-* nium; therefore it must be a great time or year of 1000 years.

The whole war, which terminates with the battle of Armageddon, is both minutely and geographially detailed by Daniel. The confederacy under its leader the infidel king will, at the time of the

* The reader will find some very curious remarks on this subject by Mr, Mede in his Works, B. v. C. 3.

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end or the close of the 1260 years, be opposed by a king of the north and a king of the south; yet, in spite of their efforts, it will succeed in overflowing many countries, and in conquering Palestine, Egypt, Libya, and the land of Cush. In the midst of these victories its chief will be disturbed by some untoward tidings out of the north and out of the east: tidings probably of the arrival in Palestine of the navy of the great maritime power with the converted of Judah, which, supposing the infidel king to be then in Egypt and Libya, would reach him from the north and north-east. Enraged at such ungrateful news, he will go forth in his fury to devote to utter destruction his opponents: and he will succeed in taking Jerusalem. This however will be his last victory. Advancing to Megiddo a town near the shores of the Mediterranean, where (as we learn from St. John) the conflict will be finally decided; advancing therefore (will the conjecture be deemed too unreasonable?) against the forces of the maritime power, and such of the Jews as shall be under its protection (the apostates themselves perhaps, late the allies of Antichrist, being now of the number, and converted) advancing, I say, against this town, he shall there unexpectedly come to his end, none being able to help him. The triumphant Word of God shall break his confederacy, that Babel which he had so long been carefully erecting; and, at

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the head of the armies of heaven, shall supernaturally overwhelm him with sudden destruction.

During this period of unexampled trouble, which so awfully terminates with the slaughter of Megiddo, we are expressly taught by Daniel; in perfect harmony with the other inspired prophets, that the restoration of Judah shall take place: consequently the whole prophecy relative to the expedition of Antichrist must be so interpreted as to harmonize with the many predictions which treat of the conversion and return of the ancient people of God.

Yet, at the time when the power of Antichrist is broken, all his followers will not be involved in indiscriminate destruction. The least guilty will be spared, converted, and scattered into all nations. Wherever they go, they will carry the wonderful tidings, that God hath overthrown his enemies, and accomplished, the restoration of his people Judah. One thing only remains to complete the grand scheme of general redemption, and fulfil the sure word of prophecy. Though Judah hath returned, the lost sheep of the house of Israel remain still to be gathered. But they shall not long continue in the land of their captivity. Struck with the marvellous tidings of those that had escaped from the slaughter of Megiddo, all nations shall bring the brethren of Judah, an offering unto the Lord, to his holy mountain to Jerusalem; the stick of Joseph shall be united with the stick of Judah; one king,

even the mystical David, shall be king unto them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided any more into two kingdoms *.

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This circumstance of a two-fold successive restoration will perhaps shew us, as I have already observed, why Daniel divides the 75 years, which will intervene between the expiration of the 1260 years and the commencement of the 1000 years or the season of millennian blessedness, into 30 years and 45 years. The 30 years may be taken up with the restoration of Judah, and the antichristian war of the infidel king and his associates at the time of the end; the 45 years may be occupied with the subsequent restoration of Israel, in consequence of the tidings carried far and wide by the converted fugitives from Armageddon. When the 75 years have elapsed, and when the whole house of Jacob has been brought back, then will commence the thousand years of the reign of the saints. None except vital Christians, none

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* Isaiah lxvi. 19-24. Ezek. xxxvii. 19—25.

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« We may venture to say in general, that there may be a considerable space of time between the fall of Antichrist, and "the last judgments which shall be inflicted upon him. Some "learned men, who have compared the prophecies of Daniel "and the Revelation together, suppose the interval of time be "tween the 1260 days and the 1335 days to be included within "the times of the seventh trumpet, during which the seven last plagues will be fulfilled." (Mr. Lowth's Comment. on Dan,

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except protestants in reality no less than in name, will then hold the reins of government throughout the whole world; the tyranny of Popery and Infidelity will be every where subverted; earth will become a school for heaven in a far higher sense than it has ever yet been; and man, daily conversing with his Maker, shall eat as it were angels' food, and walk as it were upon the threshold of the world of spirits.

At the close of the Millennium, after the destruction of Gog and Magog, the second or ge neral resurrection will take place. The first heaven and the first earth shall pass away, and a new heaven and a new earth shall occupy their place. The Church of God shall be finally translated to everlasting rest and happiness; tears shall be wiped from every eye; and death shall be swallowed up in victory.

xii. 12.) This interval of time appears to me to belong exclusively to the seventh vial, as others have perhaps more justly imagined. See Mr. Lowth on Dan. xii. 1.

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